Kitchen Renovations

This summer, Josh and I decided to bite the bullet and get a loan for some much needed repairs on our house. Early fall, we had the shingles replaced (hired that one out, neither of us was keen to attempt that ourselves). Then in October, Josh and I redid our deck (mostly Josh, but I did help a bit, and critiqued a lot). Those two things needed to be done - the shingles were literally falling off in pieces anytime the wind blew, and the deck boards were rotten in several spots.
We've wanted to redo the kitchen ever since we bought the house 7 years ago, but it wasn't a priority since the cabinets were well built and everything was functional. But we had money left over from the other renos and IKEA was having their kitchen event ($200 in gift cards for every $1000 spent). We bit the bullet and ordered our dream kitchen. Just kidding, it was nowhere near that easy. Took us about 2 weeks of measuring and measuring again and second guessing and struggling with their planning tool online and not being able to check out online, etc. It was actually incredibly frustrating and at one point I almost called it quits.
But I didn't, and here's the pictures to prove it.

Before.

Another "before" view.

Getting the demo started.

Disconnecting the sink - the moment the panic set in.

Everything is out!

New floor in - which means the cabinets can go in!

Cabinets going in.

Yay! Cabinets in, doors and drawers on.

One month later! 99% done (just need to deal with that light fixture).

I am so glad now that we went ahead with the renovation, but there were certainly some moments when I was not terribly happy with how things were going. Not having a sink for 2 weeks was frustrating. It wasn't an easy month for the kids either, that's a lot of chaos for young kids to deal with. Doing it ourselves was difficult - thankfully my dad helped us out for two days with the labour, but the planning and layout was all up to us (okay, me). And I'm no interior designer, so we had some issues like the wrong sized cabinet being ordered (thankfully just one), a pull out cabinet that couldn't actually pull out because it hit the handle of the corner cabinet next to it, a countertop that ended up 1/4" too long (and Josh ended up sanding it down for 3 1/2 hours), a sink with no clamps to attach it to the countertop, a pantry door that's 1/2" too big for the opening...okay, the list just goes on. And to do this during December, which is a busy month no matter how many Christmas gatherings you have...I can't say it was fun, but I can say it was totally worth it.

Christmas 2014

Visiting Santa at the Civic Centre...his throne is a bit lacking.

Elfie paid us another visit this year.

Matching pjs for Christmas Eve!

Paige and her doll - managed to find her a matching outfit!

Went for a walk on Christmas Day on the creek.

A new Lego set!

Enjoying The Book With No Pictures - thanks Grandma!

Our December was pretty much full of kitchen renos (another post to come on that) and not much else. We only had 2 gatherings (one with my family and one with Josh's) and both of those actually happened after Christmas. It was nice not to have too many gatherings, but having our Christmas as a family and then the other 2 three days in succession was pretty overwhelming for the kids.
We were all sufficiently spoiled, as we are every year. It seems gratuitous to post pictures of everything we received, but I was so excited about everything I got this year! My in-laws went the gift card route this year, and we happened to be in the city while the boxing day sales were on so I got some really great deals. Including enough soap from Bath and Body Works to last me through the apocalypse.
Tomorrow Wyatt is back to school and Paige's friends will be back at daycare - it's been pretty lonely there for her over the last two weeks with most of the kids being gone (where do their parents work that allows them the luxury of 2 weeks off over Christmas?). Looking forward to us all getting back into our routines!
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday as well!

Halloween!

Geez, only a few weeks late. Poor, neglected blog.

This year Wyatt decided to go as Scooby Doo. This was a bit of a last minute decision and may have involved me ordering a $50 costume by priority mail.

Paige wanted to be Wonder Woman. At least her costume cost less than a university textbook (just sayin', Wyatt).

They were both totally adorable, although for trick or treating, Paige was a cat (costume wouldn't fit over her parka, same ol' problem I dealt with as I kid). She was Wonder Woman all day at daycare, so that was okay. Josh took them trick or treating this year, and I forgot to tell him that after 2 blocks, they are so pumped about the candy they have that it's okay to come home. So they were out for over an hour and we still have lots of candy!

Back to School & Birthday Madness

Wyatt turned 6 last week! He got to celebrate by starting grade one. First full day of school on his birthday - lucky guy!

He had a small mini golf party with some friends, my parents surprised him by meeting us for supper on his birthday AND we went to Tinkertown with Josh's family to celebrate Wyatt and my niece, Livian's birthday.

I don't think we'd take Wyatt back to Tinkertown, although he suggested it this year, it was a little overwhelming for him. 

First grade seems to be going well, so far he says it's "awesome".

Paige was supposed to start preschool this year, but we didn't get in to the Friday class I wanted. She could have been in a Tuesday/Thursday class, but then I'd be leaving work twice a week to bring her back to daycare - and paying for daycare and preschool. I don't work Fridays, so maybe next year she'll be able to get into that class. However, she did move up to the "preschool room" at daycare and is quite happy about that. Especially since she and her buddy Rogan have been reunited.

Cupcakes for Wyatt's mini golf party

Lining up his shot

Birthday = sprinkle donut for breakfast

All ready for grade 1!

Finishing off his birthday with ice cream cake

Riding the cars at Tinkertown

Paige loved the merry go round

Connor and Paige on the far left (Livi 2nd from right...Wyatt standing behind me)

First day in the preschool room! She needed to bring a family photo and wouldn't let it go.

Soccer!

Wyatt had his first soccer game today.  What you see in the first picture is pretty indicative of what happened during the game. We're still not sure if he is hesitant to join in because he doesn't know what to do, or if he's just not interested. Either way, he says he's still having fun. He got new cleats, socks and shin pads for this game, and apparently if he wants to play on Wednesday, I need to buy a strap for his glasses. I was kind of taken aback by some of the parents at today's game - about 3 minutes in to a 40(ish) minute game, one of the moms was yelling at the coach to put the subs in.  The coach didn't hear her (or was ignoring her), but all the kids took turns sitting out. No need to lose your cool less than 5 minutes in.  Quite a few of the parents were shouting things like, "Kick the ball!" which I think is pretty clear to all of the kids. I try not to yell anything at Wyatt, unless he's sitting and about to be trampled. :P
The last two pictures are of Paige and her buddy Rogan (aka My Rogan, and she is My Paige to him). They were kind of ridiculously adorable together.  Rogan's brother Gus is friends with Wyatt, and is in the third picture trying to make him laugh at the end of the game instead of shaking his hand. :)

Camping 2014

As Iggy Azalea would say, "First things first, I'm a realist."

I know I come off as being pessimistic. I try not to let past experiences dictate future ones, but that's often how things roll here.

As soon as I booked the site, I began counting down til we would be home. I briefly entertained the idea that we might all have a great time! and sleep decently! and no tantrums! or weird bugs! Okay, this time there were no weird bugs. Just relentless mosquitos.

Most of the first day was okay, a few fits here and there. We played mini golf, went to the beach and had ice cream.

The night was the hellish experience I expected. Wyatt, Paige and I shared an air mattress while Josh got cozy on the tent floor with a foam mat and sleeping bag. Paige slept okay, Wyatt did not. Sleep, that is. So neither did I. It was a long night filled with whimpering, kicking, "Is it morning yet?" and "I can't sleep if daddy's snoring!" By 8:30am Wyatt was in the van, asking to go home (he had been up with Josh since 6). We did leave shortly after, to check out the new exhibits at the zoo. Both kids were tired and grumpy by noon and Wyatt complained on the way home that it was "the worst day ever."

By 7:30 this evening he was asking Josh when we could camp again.

I suggested 10 years from now.

I hate summer.

There.  I said it.
I'll get the smelling salts for you and give you a moment to recover.
"How can you hate summer?"

from hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.ca

Does that help? One summer, at Red Rock Bible Camp, I got heat exhaustion. Ever since then, I've been seriously sensitive to heat and feel barfy and queasy when it's more than 24 degrees.
And sweating.  I hate sweating. When the unrelenting sun is bearing down on you, there's no breeze and it "feels like 43.6 with the humidex", how do you exist outside without sweating?  Even my eyelids sweat.  That's not okay.
Then there's the "activities". Swimming. Camping. Picnicking. Bonfires. Parks.
"What's not to like about bonfires? Surely you enjoy sitting around a crackling fire!"

Yeah, that.
Swimming = pouring myself into a bathing suit, dragging at least 1 crying child into the water against their will ("We didn't come to the beach to play in the sand for 4 hours!"), all the while hoping nothing brushes up against my leg, the kids leave the floating band-aid alone and my boobs don't tumble out of my bathing suit. Again.
Camping (for us) = 4 people sandwiched into an tent (aka canvas pod of recycled stagnant air), a slowly deflating air mattress and kids who literally wake up with the sun. Which, if I recall correctly from last summer, was 3:42am.
Picnicking = everyone ate outside 1000 years ago. Then we built shelters and now the smart people eat INSIDE. Without the bugs and the sandwich meat which is slowly warming up and the watermelon which is causing a line of stick from my daughters wrist to her elbow to her stomach to her knees. This will later attract legions of bugs, all of which she is terrified of.
Parks = other people's children.
I'm sure you're wondering now if I hate kittens and cotton candy too, and I can assure you that I love (the idea of) kittens and cotton candy (in very small doses). So there.

Despite my summer avoidance, I have two children who love summer and love being outside, so I suck it up and occasionally take the kids for ice cream at Warky's, cover the driveway with bizarre interpretations of Yo Gabba Gabba characters in sidewalk chalk, play at the (smallest and quietest) park and when I really feel like testing my limits, we do go camping.  It's Wyatt's favorite thing ever, and how do you say no to that? We eat too many hot dogs and s'mores and nobody sleeps, and he talks about how great it is for a year.
So here's to swollen, itchy bug bites, sweaty eyelids, swimming in someone else's pee (oh, you know it's happening), accidentally inhaling a mosquito while biking and drinking a can of pop with a bee inside. Cheers!